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Rating: 
Summary: pessimism gets its turn as a gift book
Review: This is a tiny 80 page book devoted to pessimism. Not intended as an art book at all, it nevertheless features a small handful of details from Edvard Munch paintings, with the infamous "Scream" taking center stage. The book's focus is the broad philosophical brushstroke that makes up the title; thus it can be viewed as harrowingly serious or quipsterly silly. I'd say the latter is what the editor was attempting.It mostly works. A short introduction of the concept of "Murphy's Law" (anything that can go wrong, will) leads into anecdotes demonstrating the evidence for the book's claim. The too-true-to-be-believed stories, encapsulated in approximately a paragraph each, are drawn from history, politics, business, even sports. Some, like the sinking of the "unsinkable" Titanic, are famous, where others, such as a drowning accident at a swim party for 200 lifeguards and the story of a boxer who actually lost by knocking *himself* out, are slightly more obscure. The best part of the book is a section devoted to witty, biting quotations, ranging from to G.B. Shaw's "Success is merely one acheivement that covers up a multitude of blunders," to Voltaire's "Optimism is a mania for saying things are well when one is in hell." My favorite: Jules Feiffer's "Getting out of bed in the morning is an act of false confidence." There are unfortunately no sources provided, but do you really need them? From a Matisse painting being hung upside down at a museum for 44 days to a woman golfer taking 166 strokes on a single hole, this small volume is a gift chock full of ammunition for the favorite cynic in your life. As for the book's claim-- you need to make up your own mind as to the truth or untruth. I already have...
Rating:
Summary: pessimism gets its turn as a gift book
Review: This is a tiny 80 page book devoted to pessimism. Not intended as an art book at all, it nevertheless features a small handful of details from Edvard Munch paintings, with the infamous "Scream" taking center stage. The book's focus is the broad philosophical brushstroke that makes up the title; thus it can be viewed as harrowingly serious or quipsterly silly. I'd say the latter is what the editor was attempting. It mostly works. A short introduction of the concept of "Murphy's Law" (anything that can go wrong, will) leads into anecdotes demonstrating the evidence for the book's claim. The too-true-to-be-believed stories, encapsulated in approximately a paragraph each, are drawn from history, politics, business, even sports. Some, like the sinking of the "unsinkable" Titanic, are famous, where others, such as a drowning accident at a swim party for 200 lifeguards and the story of a boxer who actually lost by knocking *himself* out, are slightly more obscure. The best part of the book is a section devoted to witty, biting quotations, ranging from to G.B. Shaw's "Success is merely one acheivement that covers up a multitude of blunders," to Voltaire's "Optimism is a mania for saying things are well when one is in hell." My favorite: Jules Feiffer's "Getting out of bed in the morning is an act of false confidence." There are unfortunately no sources provided, but do you really need them? From a Matisse painting being hung upside down at a museum for 44 days to a woman golfer taking 166 strokes on a single hole, this small volume is a gift chock full of ammunition for the favorite cynic in your life. As for the book's claim-- you need to make up your own mind as to the truth or untruth. I already have...
Rating: 
Summary: Death Stinks for Edvard Munch
Review: Woe be to the memory and remarkable oeuvre of Edvard Munch, here chopped to pieces and rendered lifeless in a tiny book devoted to complaining and whining. It would be nice to at least have titles of the Munch pieces maniacally cropped (apparently) for the sake of design and layout. If Munch were alive today he would certainly buy an inflatable punching bag made in the image of his "Scream" figure and punch away after seeing his art trivialized in such a laissez-faire manner.
Rating:
Summary: Death Stinks for Edvard Munch
Review: Woe be to the memory and remarkable oeuvre of Edvard Munch, here chopped to pieces and rendered lifeless in a tiny book devoted to complaining and whining. It would be nice to at least have titles of the Munch pieces maniacally cropped (apparently) for the sake of design and layout. If Munch were alive today he would certainly buy an inflatable punching bag made in the image of his "Scream" figure and punch away after seeing his art trivialized in such a laissez-faire manner.
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